South Park has been in the middle of one of its wildest seasons yet, and the animated series brought back an unexpected character fans haven’t heard from in 20 long years. South Park Season 27 has been working through a much different kind of release schedule than fans have seen before. Now dropping new episodes on a bi-weekly basis, it’s giving fans of the series longer to chew on each release as we all wait for the next entry. But it’s also been very experimental with what characters are actually in the mix of the stories seen in the episodes so far.
Videos by ComicBook.com
South Park fans have likely noticed how Season 27’s episodes have either shared parallels with classic episodes we’ve seen in the past, or that some classic jokes have returned to the spotlight through new additions like its take on President Donald Trump (mirroring the franchise’s take on Saddam Hussein). But along with these callbacks to the past, the team is also bringing back older characters like Wing, Tuong Lu Kim’s wife with her first speaking role in the series since her debut episode way back in 2005, Season 9’s “Wing.”
Wing Surprisingly Returns to South Park After 20 Years
Tuong Lu Kim’s wife Wing first made her debut in the Season 9 episode, “Wing,” which saw the boys being the managers for the singer only for it to go as well as fans would expect. It was a notable episode because it featured real life singer Wing Han Tsang, who series creators Trey Park and Matt Stone had to get permission from to use her songs in the episode. Though the character has popped once in a non-speaking capacity since that now classic debut appearance, Wing has finally returned with a speaking role in South Park Season 27.
The fourth episode of the season, “Wok Is Dead,” sees Butters being tricked into hunting down a very rare Labubu for Red (who is another rarely used character being pushed into a more prominent role for the episode), and heads to the City Wok as it’s now been turned into a collectible pop-up shop (and is no longer a restaurant). Wing appears to chastise Tuong Lu’s taking advantage of Butters and the other children, but all her husband says in reply is the fact that the rising tariffs means that they need to do this to stay afloat.
Will We See More Returning Faces in South Park Season 27?
It was ultimately a running gag that highlighting how the new “City Pop-Up” was taking advantage of the collectible craze (that even references the classic “Chinpokomon” episode with some of the collectibles seen in it), but Wing’s speaking appearance here also is a good sign for the future of the season. Because while it started out taking some of its biggest shots at new political controversies, it’s also feeling nostalgic in the jokes it’s telling and characters it has featured thus far.
South Park Season 27 is also seemingly building towards some kind of major event before the new season comes to an end. Satan has undergone a major change as of the newest episode, and it could lead to something much bigger. We’ve seen South Park take on longer storytelling across its seasons and specials in the past, and this all could be tying into a much bigger reveal (or maybe even return) to come.
You can now catch up with South Park’s newest episodes streaming with Paramount+, and want to stay up to date on the biggest geek entertainment news? Add us as a preferred source in Google – HERE.
